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What Else Doesn't Obama Know & Why?

During Watergate, former Sen. Howard Baker framed the definitive question for any scandal that encroaches on the White House: “What did the president know and when did he know it?”

Four decades later in the Obama era, that question has to be reformulated: “What else doesn't the president know and why doesn't he know it?”

The national debt is a fairly substantial issue. President Obama once considered it important enough to appoint a special bipartisan commission that only two years ago, in its final report, flatly stated, “The era of debt denial is over.”

Yet when the president sat down for a hard-hitting interview on “The Late Show with David Letterman” two months ago, he had no clue about the debt. “Now, do you remember what that number was? Was it $10 trillion?” Letterman asked. “I don't remember what the number was precisely,” Obama responded. “We don't have to worry about it short term,” he added.